


Irritation Unknown

by HypnoTonic



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Advanced (Human) Technology, Basic By Irken Standards, Blood, Crash Landing, During/After Florpus, Engineer Reader, F/M, Headaches, Heatsword, MORE TAGS INBOUND, Medical Inaccuracies, Misunderstandings, Near Death Experiences, No Bullshit Attitude, Possible AUs, Post-Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, Secret government projects, Serious Injuries, Tall Reader, Thundertrucks (Spaceships), moon base, physical violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:15:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27842848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HypnoTonic/pseuds/HypnoTonic
Summary: When the Earth disappears it sets off a chain of events, a normal person would be freaking out and frightened but more than anything your just tired and annoyed. Naturally, this leads to you punching an alien in the face.
Relationships: Original Irken Character/Reader, Original Male Character/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	1. A Painful Start

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on Dec 1st but twice I forgot to check the box 'This work has multiple chapters', so uh, here we are on Dec 2nd. It's going to be a rough start and possibly a very slow burn but I hope I can ease everyone into the story as we go, buckle in because it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
> 
> I'll be posting drawings of characters and other things around the story here: https://hypnotonic.tumblr.com/

LUNAR 8

You'd been putting in your evening report when a red glare suddenly replaced the normal white illuminating glow via the overhead lights. It wasn't long after that a lone electronic blare pierced your ears, the noise of which sounded akin to a mechanical creature screaming out in terror lasted ten seconds per same droning squeal with little pause in-between.

It'd been long since you'd heard that specific screeching during drills back in your training days and though you understood its purpose even now it filled you with more annoyance than paranoia of whatever potential threat you were being alerted about. Getting up from your seat you raised a brow at the bars now withholding you from access to your own door before entering the code to the emergency lock currently holding you hostage in your personal quarters.

Rounding the long corridors towards the command center you had to enter the security code into several more keypads before you could make it to your desired destination. Mulling over your thoughts you sifted through possible causes for this abrupt lockdown, maybe something had struck the station or gotten close to hitting it? You considered going back for your suit to prevent an accident just incase there was a breach but looking towards the most recent door you'd passed through you saw it had already relocked into place and you were already more than half way to the command center so you ultimately decided against turning around.

Finally reaching the command center after what must have been twelve or more minutes of pure ear torture you briskly strode into the room with intent to investigate and neutralize the problem as swiftly as possible. Hunching over one of many screens your fingers furiously tapped against the delicate tech as you attempted to start up a diagnostic test meant to secure details on the entirety of the moon base's current functional status. Stepping back when the test began you simply looked on patiently hoping that the infuriating sound that had kickstarted a blooming headache in the midst of your cranium would come to a merciful halt.

Using the time given to you by the test you continued chewing what thoughts you could even if the alarm sought to make thinking a legitimately daunting task your curiosity and drive to understand the current circumstance had you pondering, the day had gone normally aside from the current unknown catastrophe that was ever presently trying to make itself known to you and your surroundings. You'd signed yourself in as mandatorily required each morning, checked up on assigned sections to find no abnormalities or causes for concern, ran daily tests on the thundertrucks, took a brief break, wrote down details on samples in the laboratory section meant to be thoroughly studied when the rest of the crew returned to the station, and then went off to your room to fill out the previously mentioned evening report that had been interrupted by sudden turn of events.

A soft distinct beep among the ruckus snapped you back to attention, you found that the test had been concluded and awaited review so you swiped to open the information given to you. As far as you could decipher from the paragraphs of text everything on the base's end was working as functionally and well as it ever had but apparently monitoring and communications had been swiftly cut off on the administration's side of things.

Before looking into the problem further you put the diagnosis aside and opened up remote access to the alarm system, something you weren't supposed to have access to in the first place but since the administration couldn't actively monitor your screen at the moment and you'd come to discover long ago that for some reason the majority of the passcodes meant to secure things involving the organization were in fact the same number sequences.. Well.. They should count their blessings and be thankful that you aren't any kind of spy of sorts- but that's besides the point.

Entering the embarrassingly easy to guess passcode into the system you were finally able to disable the irritating alarm that'd been going for a solid twenty-three minutes or so. Though lights returned to the normal colorless hue and all the previously blocked off halls went back to being openly accessible while the sound wailed its last rattle the subtly ringing of white noise settled into place in your ears, wonderful, you've been gifted with a temporary cause of tinnitus alongside the still drumming headache bouncing around your brain.

Slapping the side of your head a couple of times as if trying to pop your ears to cure the annoying whir of flat sound you loudly groaned when it had no effect on your condition other than causing further pain when the jabbing sensation brought upon by your headache momentarily spiked in pressure from impact.

Begrudgingly trying to keep focus during both inconveniences you closed the programs displayed on your screen and led your fingers on another dance across it in search of the application commonly used to run fast communication between the base and those hosting from home. You found that you indeed had no possible way of contacting them at the current time for whatever reason. It's not unlike the crew hadn't lost communication to the administration before due to basic connection problems every once in awhile but the problem was always on the base's end and yet according to your screen and prior diagnostic check everything on your end was up and running.

An idea struck you out of the blue, walking away from your screen and towards a panel on the side of the wall you flicked one of the few small blue switches on it and watched as the circular wall curving around the command center lifted to reveal the expansive space of the observation deck. Nearing the railing keeping you from falling the sixteen feet towards the observation floor you looked up and around for a very important detail the seemed to be missing, Earth.

Unlike the pure annoyance you felt when the alarm had set in now you started to feel flecks of confusion and dread seeping in, your pain was thrown on the backburner as your mind raced with incoherent thought to try and find reason for the disappearance of your home planet and a pool of bile seemed to slowly rise from the pushing of tightening anxiety taking tight hold of your abdomen and near racing heart.

Trying to get ahold of yourself before you could rightfully freak out over the present situation you dryly swallowed the rebelling acid brew threatening to spill upwards from your throat and began to take deep steady breathes 'Your a professional.' you internally reminded yourself as you slowly regained composure over your body.

Stepping a good few feet backwards you leaned onto the frontmost built in command desk out of the long three sets filling the room with palms faced backwards pressing into the surface to further support your weight, though you were calming down as quickly as possible a breather would still do you some good with the nuclear bombshell that'd just been dropped rather rudely onto you.

Facing upwards towards the one way glass making up the observation deck's ceiling you starred towards the blank voided space where Earth was meant to be. A fleeting thought wondered if you could dig up contraband from one of your crewmates stash, namely alcohol. Something they wouldn't and couldn't possibly miss seeing as, well, you know..

An emptiness was swift to swallow you since you refused to allow your emotions to take hold, not something unusual to your behavior as you tended to prefer to numb yourself to strong feelings no matter positive or negative in order to save yourself from possible future repercussion brought about by the feeble human heart.

Pushing off your support you meant to turn and leave the room but a beeping similar to the one you'd heard when the diagnostic test had concluded began softly but rapidly playing throughout the open space. Slowly you returned to your screen in the second row to discover what'd set it off this time.

Apparently, the outdoor scanners had just finalized a proximity sweep ranging up to thirty miles around the base in any given direction and found that twenty-two miles out a disturbance in the surface area was detected. You wondered for a moment how the three most prominent events of the day were connected because there was no way none of them were tethered by some abnormal string of events that you absolutely needed to get to the bottom of before any other batshit crazy things bust you over the head.

Making short work of the less obstructed walk back to your room you prepared mentally for whatever new insanity that may or may not meet you when you traverse the landscape outwards onto the grayed rock beyond. Stripping off your outfit you slipped on a tight set that hung close to your body to avoid irritating snags and chafing before dawning your space walk suit, one majorly less clunky and stiff than the ones commonly advertised to the public as modern material.

With your helm equipped but yet to be snapped into place in order to preserve oxygen you made your way past the cafeteria and storage towards the airlock. When you reached the door you were swift to double check it was secure behind you after passing through, it wasn't faulty to your knowledge but safety was best left unneglected at all costs when one primarily lived their entire life on a hunk of small space rock with no native means of obtaining oxygen, something you in particular need to survive.

Hearing the hiss of your oxygen tanks spring to life once you clicked the reinforced glass now over your face into place you took hold of one of the rope clips sticking out of the wall and pulled it over to connect with a closed hook on your belt, ready for your trip beyond the station you yanked the brightly labelled lever in front of you that'd been locking the outer doors tightly together and set off once you felt the binds of weighted gravity relieve itself of your form.

Using small jets in the suit you pushed to cover ground as efficiently as your available resources could get you, cutting down the miles spent on your journey significantly.

Stopping just short of sixty feet away from what you now saw to be a dark colorful spacecraft crammed cozily into a freshly formed steep crater, it looked absolutely battered from your perspective and you could hear a robotic voice loudly announcing repeated phrases you couldn't exactly make out but they sounded urgent and something akin to warnings if you strained your ears just right. Putting two and two together you guessed someone or thing was still inside as while there were cracks and holes in the craft none were big enough to escape from as far as you knew so with only little time being wasted on hesitation as you stood back for seconds wondering if the piece of machinery in front of you was ready to explode before chucking a 'Fuck it' into your thinking space and sliding down the disturbed ground towards the heavily damaged craft.

You surveyed what you could of the glass at the front of the ship which was almost completely buried beneath the dry soil to try and locate the pilot but not only was most of the front portion almost entirely buried but the glass was also a pinkish tint too dark to peek into where you could see it. Feeling the curved ledge of the glass where the shield was meant to meet the top with a hardened glove you found that there was a gap leading into the assumed pilots department of the ship.

Realizing that this meant that if the pilot inside required oxygen or any other type of gas to thrive it was quickly escaping if not all gone already and the being at the wheel was dead or going to be relatively shortly you grappled onto the glass shield and tried your hardest to push it apart with every ounce of force you could deliver. The shield didn't budge much after a minute of trying but the added pressure caused the glass to fracture even further so with a few hefty punches you were able to shatter your visible portion of the glass, knocking off any too close jutting out pieces for extra measure so the softer areas of your suit wouldn't suffer any fatal punctures.

It was a tight squeeze but you managed to wriggle your upper half into the space and come face to face with both ear bursting alarms and the back of the ship's occupant's head, you wouldn't take your time to study the figure as for all you knew time was of the essence, they were laying facedown in shards of glass and other debris with shrapnel near pinning them in place so you faced sparse more moments of struggle to get access to them but was eventually able to snag hold of one of their skinny arms to tug them towards you.

Maneuvering yourself and the lanky body in your arms was troublesome but you got a grip on the side of the ship with your boots and pushed upwards with the momentum you could muster. You wrapped one arm around the unconscious beings middle and used the other arm to put the both of you further up and out of the crater with assistance from the rope pulling firm at your hip. When you connected with higher ground once again you reaffirmed your grip, gathered any loose slack and pressed down on a small button located just beneath the ropes clip for immediate retraction, a dangerous move as you'd be reeled back at high speeds with chances of colliding with objects and sent tumbling back with all too possible broken bones and tears in your suit but one you'd take to ensure the success of your little rescue mission.

It took you nine minutes to get to the wreckage using the jets and two minutes to get back using the rope, a quick trip considering the alternatives but little to say your back was not appreciative or understanding when it collided brutally against the airlock wall, your sure you would've broken it if not for your suits built in cushioning and overall resilience. You did need to take a moment to blink the sparks out of your eyes and recover from your literal inability to breathe after having the air knocked out of you but when you regained most of your bearings you were able to stumble across the room and shut the airlock.

When the hiss of oxygen filled the room you felt a sense of relief wash over you, you placed the form you almost forgot you were hugging close to you with a death grip on the ground and looked for signs of life. You didn't know where to look for a pulse on the alien but on closer inspection found that their chest cavity was moving ever so slightly up and down every other second, a good sign you guessed.

Now that you knew at the very least that they weren't dead just yet you relaxed a little and inspected the alien beneath you. It looked kinda like.. The stereotypical little green men depiction you've seen plastered around as stickers on some of your crewmates doors except this one had antenna and was most defiantly bigger at somewhere under your proud standings of 6'3 and instead of being plain nude it was wearing a now lightly torn long white robe with pale red accents at the collar and few other areas.

Looking down at the tears littering the alien's garment you noticed one in particular stretched far across the side, out of a mix of curiosity and want to discover any serious injuries you carefully stuck your fingers through the fabric to lift it farther open. Quickly retracting your hand when pink liquid proceeded to gush outwards and pool on the floor from the gap you were fast to hoist the creature back into your arms albeit not without nearly bulking at how much you found it weighed without the graces of low gravity to assist you.

Reduced to a quick shuffle you made your way towards the laboratory that often doubled as a medical bay. You were almost worried about how this thing hadn't woken up yet despite all the ragdolling and chaos you'd been putting it through, it was knocked out cold and with major blood loss there was a chance it would stay that way indefinitely if you couldn't salvage this situation fast.

You cringed when you slammed the injured being down onto an observation bed with more force than intended and they bounced just a little against the stiff mattress. With your arms now free but achy as a result of all the fuss and draining adrenaline you hastily sorted through the various shelves in the room in search of what you thought could aid, you were defiantly not a doctor in any sense of the word but you had very brief mandatory medical training and memorized some to do things for larger wounds.

Rushing around the room you gathered a clean rag, gloves, gauze, and a roll of bandages, if this were a human you were attempting to save then you'd probably think to wash off the wound first with water or apply ointment but you really didn't want to risk putting for all you knew foreign toxins into the already struggling to hang on alien.

Seeing as you didn't have time on your side you tugged the pair of blue gloves over your already gloved hands and stuffed the rag against the gaping wound but found that it was soaked within minutes, to hell with that idea, time to apply a shit ton of gauze! So you did, you applied a large quantity of gauze up and down wherever the bleeding seemed to be leaking from the most, you then applied another layer after the first was starting to look like the rag you'd just tossed prior to this method before unrolling the bandages and stuffing your arms through the unwilling gap in the robe and began crudely wrapping the bandages about the alien's torso liberally.

This'd be awkward if you stopped to think about it but your focus was dead set on using up the entire roll of light brown wrap around this things torso in an attempt to calm the bleeding and force the healing process to get started.

When you were finished treating the wound it looked like a bottle of pepto-bismol had exploded all over your hands. Peeling off the soaked plastic you threw them into the nearest sink and returned to your unwitting patient to search for more deep gashes such as the one you oh so expertly treated, thankfully however aside from some long thin cuts on its body and face that you decorated with band-aids nothing else seemed to need urgent care.

You slumped into a nearby chair feeling exhausted from the sheer amount of excitement and energy that was drained away since you first stepped foot outside of the base. Refocusing on yourself you noticed that your tinnitus had risen from a slight whir into an unignorably hum but the lingering pulse of your headache stuck around only with a mellow thrum buzzing at your brain every now and then.

As you rested into the plastic back of the chair behind you a new pain began emerging from more areas than one, an intense sting was felt in your knuckles on the hand you'd use to smash the glass open, one of your shoulders started to ache, and though you could feel the pain in your back before it had now risen to full compacity.

Doing little more than readjusting in the tiny uncomfortable seat dwarfed by your height you'd just choose to face the pain with a straight face for now, get a painkiller if it neared the point of being debilitating, and treat it properly later when you were free to change out of your suit at leisure because you wanted to keep a close eye on your strange guest for now to make sure they pull through.

Your intent to monitor this subject was cut short however when you felt the ground rumble for a moment to a minor degree. You could have taken a guess at what had caused the disruption but first a dreaded sight met your eyes in the form of a very familiar red glare. A very long sigh was emanated from you after the first of many alarm squeals raced through your already suffering eardrums, today kinda fucking sucked donkey ass.

There was a rising anger swelling within your chest that made you feel able to strangle a rhino if one confronted you but with a pinched face and a huff from you nose you snuffed out the burning heat blazing within you before it could become anything more than a bright flare in a pit of sweltering darkness.

Glazing your view over towards the form occupying one of the beds you saw that they were still laying limply despite the commotion. Your eyes flecked upwards slightly to witness the antenna crowning the alien's head twitching infrequently, another sign of life.

Your body jabbed you with a few extra prongs of pain in protest as you maneuvered yourself off the small chair, truthfully you didn't want to leave this creature unmonitored not only because it was facing death but also because if it made a swift recovery and happened to have flesh eating tendencies then you'd want to be around to put a swift end to it before it could skitter off and pull some horror movie bullshit on your ass.

However, you really didn't want to listen to that persistent alarm for longer than you had to so you would hobble out of the room, the door was going to be automatically bolted shut behind you anyways and you hadn't happened to tell the alien the passcode while it was passed out in your arms so.. You should be good to go.

Little to say your trip to the command center was uneventful and as bland as it had been the first time you made your trek towards it today but somehow with even more agony.

You shut the alarm off just as you had previously, looked up to find Earth still missing, confirmed your initial theory about the rumbling being caused by the explosion of the craft a good hunk of miles out, and then proceeded back towards the laboratory so you could slump back into one of the hard little chairs for a belated rest.

When you made it back to the lab with hand raised to enter the code you stopped yourself and listened. You couldn't explain it exactly but something felt off, like in the sixteen minutes it took you to get back something wrong had transpired or like the temperature had dropped but you couldn't feel the difference.

Bracing yourself now you kept away from immediate view of the doorway as you entered the passcode with an outstretched arm. Sure enough, as soon the doors slid open a long metallic appendage thrusted outwards in a swiping motion, guess it woke up and grew some shiny new limbs while you were away.

Preparing yourself you waited for it to leave the lab. A solid two minutes passed before one of its.. Claws? Grappled onto the side of the doorframe and it slowly peered it's head out into the hall, seeing this as an opportunity and not wanting to let it go to waste just as the creature swiveled attention in your direction you socked it square in the eye sending it scuttling backwards into the confined space with a yelp leaving it as it clumsily toppled over objects in the vicinity.

You yourself hissed through bared teeth as you sucked in air from the shock of pain sent through your damaged fist. Slamming down on the keypad you locked the door to prevent the apparently hostile creature's escape. Walking over to the long window not far from the door you looked in to overview the alien's doings to find it huddled against a corner hanging from its odd new limbs and staring directly at you with one of two large deep green eyes scrunched up in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to get started on the next chapter immediately, I have lots of creative steam to spare and want to keep this ball rolling.
> 
> Also, I'd like to note that I was inspired to write this by another work on here labeled "Close Encounters of the Idiot Kind" it's an amazing IVZ fanfic based around the blooming relationship of a human reader and one of the tallests plus so much more in regards to the story happening around them, I doubt you haven't already come across it if your looking for IVZ x reader works on here but if you truly haven't I heavily suggest giving it a read.


	2. Frightened Guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up where chapter one left off we see our indignant reader dealing with an apprehensive Pock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to release this chapter sooner but when I originally finished it I realized how unsatisfied with it I was so I went back and reworked it. On the bright side though the original was only 2,955 words and this one actually made it to my minimum goal of 4,000+! I also go carried away with some artwork and other fun things, made some images for this chapter!
> 
> https://hypnotonic.tumblr.com/image/637134301104947200

The stare down prolonged for few minutes before the alien squirmed in discomfort from being put under your agitated vision, its posture was awkward as it seemed to be trying to think of something to say or do. Visually unsure of its self it curled inward before hesitantly raising a hand upward pointing vaguely in your direction and speaking or what appeared to be speaking however no words reached you when its mouth moved to form speech. Your ire faded into confusion with your face reforming from a heated glare to a perplexed pinch as you tried to get the message across that you couldn't hear a word coming from its maw. 

A thought presented itself to you, one that made you feel miniscule second hand embarrassment for this creature. With bemusement rid of your features you defaulted to a deadpan but didn't make any action to prevent it from continuing its puny charade probably meant to trick you into opening the door to hear it better like an ignorant monkey.

Seeming to catch on to your awareness it fidgeted under the scrutiny of your watch, averting its gaze to the side it began picking at its gloved hands "So now that we're done playing our little mime game would you like to explain yourself or do you really speak another language so complex I can't even comprehend it? Or do you communicate so quietly I can't hear it through this thin sheet of glass?" you tapped the glass for emphasis as your plain tone carried little amusement.

It stood guilty for few prolonged moments before slowly returning eye contact "What are you trying to do to me?" the assumed male voice spoke in a hushed breathy voice sounding fearful to talk any louder. He was honestly terrified of the imposing human that'd struck him in the face. He knew very little about humans other than what they looked like and things he'd overheard in passing such as them tending to be somewhat tall with a noticeable lack of overall intelligence but he feels slightly mislead on both of these bits of information as even he at his own impressive height would have to look up if he weren't using his PAK legs at the moment and this human was at the very least moderately intelligent so he'd have to tread lightly on this uncharted territory. 

He'd woken up to loud ungodly high pitched noises that made him regret consciousness in a strange unfamiliar place with a squeezing sensation on his torso and pain rippling through many areas especially at his middle where the squeezing was taking place so he'd come to the safe conclusion that at some point in time he'd been captured by something for some reason and was being actively harvested before he woke up. He also couldn't remember much aside from travelling with the fleet alongside the massive before blacking out entirely so another fear was that the armada had come under fire while traversing along their intended path of decimation, an unlikely scenario as there were very few if any willing to attack the entire fleet as a whole but still an unignorable possibility that made him retch. Little to say his anxiety was at an all time high and he wanted to get out of this situation very badly as soon as psychically possible. 

Letting his question sink in you noted that he sounded genuinely frightened, that anyone could guess by his tone of voice but it did make you stop to rethink things from his perspective. You didn't know if he was here for a reason but regardless there was a very high chance he wasn't the slightest aware that you'd saved him from a miserable fiery death at the wheel of his own ship so waking up bruised in a random place might've been alarming. You wouldn't fully let the whole attack attempt at the door go anytime soon as he could've seriously injured you but if you found yourself battered in a place you didn't know with cuts you'd probably run out swinging at your captors too. 

Your icy outer demeanor let up only by an inch "Aside from repairing your wounds? Nothing." you glanced over at the door for a moment before returning your focus to his hunched frame "I was coming back to make sure you didn't pass away from blood loss but it seems like your doing just fine." your remark came out more sharp than originally intended this time but you didn't care to repair the statement even when he shrunk just a little more into himself. He was very clearly still in pain with the way he seemed to flinch at nothing every odd second or so trying to readjust himself into a more comfortable position.

You waited for a response but when the silence stretched long beyond your point of patience you spoke again "I advise you lay back down now. I'm not a doctor but anyone with eyes can see your very obviously still in pain." your cold tone held firm but this time your words were spiked with false cruelty, you did want him to rest so he wouldn't fuck up his wounds to a worse extent despite him having prior intent to harm you but at the same time you didn't want to show weakness by expressing care for his condition. Waiting again for a reply to no avail you let free a heavy sigh. Figuring your presence was keeping him on edge and preventing his recovery you left without giving him another useless second in hopes of a response, you could only hope for his future cooperation. It was your turn for a botched examination anyway.

Removing the suit was painful in its own way as you found reaching backwards with your achy shoulder caused further needles of hot pain to linger, you took the process slow with stilted movements. Your hand looked almost grotesque, though probably due to a combination of the sheer force you had to exercise and some harder parts of the suit's gloves you still weren't expecting the sight of your hand that while wasn't bleeding was very raw with peeled flesh torn all along the ridges of your knuckles and pink lower layers of unprotected skin on show. Two of your fingers also seemed much stiffer than the rest with a discolored hue coming into form from the base to the lighter tips and a noticeable puffiness fattening them in comparison.

Being mindful of your broken digits you brought your shirt over your head and tossed it aside, turning your back to a built in mirror hanging off your wall you took in the damage. Your upper back seemed to have taken the most trauma, it was already swelling with a variant of dark purples, blues, and yellows that canvased from shoulder to shoulder and crept up the side of one of them while your lower back seemed less affected but still decorated with the color combo fading completely just above your hips. Crouching in the small room you dug under your bed and pulled out a dusty standard medical kit, you were meant to preserve the supplies inside for emergencies but you didn't feel like going back to the lab for the abundant supplies there as the current occupant defiantly needed his space and walking in right now didn't feel like a smart move.

You applied some ointment before lightly wrapping the flesh wounds on your hand. Moving onto your certainly broken ring and middle fingers you tightly wrapped them together after manually straightening them out with your opposite hand, you didn't currently have anything to splint them with so this'd have to do for now. Ice, you needed ice to prevent further swelling. Dawning a shirt once again you figured you could take a peek down the hall leading to the lab on the way to the cafeteria as a way to be not too invasive while checking up on him at the same time so you set off.

Perhaps telling your antsy guest how thin the window in his presumed confines were wasn't your brightest moment. Shattered glass littered the floor at your boots spanning a good three feet across, it looked like he didn't want to take any chances either as the entire frame had been hollowed of it's crystalline pane. Asshole. Disregarding the fact that you'd need to clean this mess at some point in the near future you set out on a new mission to find the alien running wild within the base.

Weapons weren't allowed on base but you knew that Jenna, a more recent addition to the staff had constructed a 'heatsword' to the chagrin of your administrators and though hazardous contraband is meant to be stripped away as soon as possible it was her birthday at the time so for some moronic reason she was allowed to keep it for a short period of time, enough time to make a false copy. Now despite alcohol also being strictly contraband she'd apparently hid the original sword somewhere in the base whilst shitfaced drunk and later that night messily sobbed her confession to everyone in the lunch room, without being asked mind you. Up until this point you hadn't even cared to sniff at the idea of helping search for the object as you'd found the whole thing idiotic. 

By no means did you have any intentions to straight up slay the alien especially after putting so much effort into getting him stable but if your life came under threat for the second time because of him you would be sure to make him regret his actions. It was a matter of what you found first really. With your bandaged hand held close to your chest you trod careful of each individual corner so that you couldn't be blindsided out of the blue. 

Fallowing your original path leading towards the cafeteria you found a pink stained band aid curled near the open entrance. Inching in slowly you looked around the large room packed with not much more than round benched tables, he couldn't be hiding under one of those with his lanky frame so you looked towards the swinging door that led into the kitchen which happened to be swaying slightly as if recently disturbed. Stalking forward you felt the odd sensation of your ears readjusting as they attempted to pick up on the gentle shuffling disrupting the tense silence, leaning in you listened closely for anything of note. 

You could hear some faint whispering that took a desperate tempo, he sounded like he was pleading for something. Some intensity melted from your tightened form as awkwardness befell you with a hint of pity, lifting your functional hand you knocked on the wall besides the door to alert him to your presence "Hey." a half choked screech echoed from the other side along with some frantic clattering when you spoke "Leave me alone!" it felt odd how despite him being the one armed with lethal mechanical limbs and possible other crazy things while you stood with only three of four limbs to defend yourself that he was the one cornered on defense "Look," your voice was free of ire but still flat "I know that we haven't gotten off on the best foot and that's primarily my fault for not making an effort to explain things sooner but if you any questions about anything I'll try to answer them." he seemed to consider this, he was still uncomfortable with your presence so he'd stay crammed half buried in cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink until you left but the the offer of answers whether truthful or not was tempting. 

"...Where am I and how did I get here?" you'd expected that one off the bat "Your in a facility on the moon, planet earth's moon specifically." he had taken the educated guess that he was on or around the earth already but the confirmation made him feel lightly dizzy "You crash landed some miles out and I recovered you before the ship exploded. What happened before that I'm unsure of, was actually hoping you could fill me in on that part." your starkness carried far to unnerve him.

You were really hard to get a concise read on and that unsettled him further, he couldn't pin down any tells in your voice to indicate deception or sincerity to make it easier for him to get a handle on how to proceed. Like a parrot he couldn't help but repeat a prior question "What were you trying to do me? If um.." he didn't want to make you angry in fear that you'd have a bad reaction so diverting his original intent to question the validity of the crash he went for a questionably safer route "If you were trying to repair my wounds then why is it so.. uh.. bad?" his wounds were wrapped but very poorly and far too tightly "I don't feel any stiches either." he smoothed down his torso where stained bandages hugged him.

Bad? The attempt was piss poor and you knew that "Firstly, with the way you reacted to me trying to come back in the room do you really think it'd been any better if you'd woken up to me needle in hand trying to stitch you?" you could only imagine yourself at the tip end of one of those spidery esc limbs had that scenario played out "Secondly, I told you, I'm not a doctor. If you want to give it a go now that your awake be my guest, I sure as hell don't know how to treat one of my own let alone another species." your statement was noted but he wasn't ready to leave the false safety of the cupboard just yet.

"I guess not.." he replied "Where are the others?" another question had came to mind immediately fallowing after your points "The other humans? This place looks like there should be a bunch of you walking around but your the only one I've encountered so far." he would be thankful if he didn't have any other humans to deal with if they were all anything like the one he was currently speaking to. You wanted to question how he knew of your race straight away but slowed the urge so you could think out your reply thoroughly, he didn't need to know you were the only one currently occupying the building aside from himself but if he stuck around to lick his wounds as you expected he was going to then he was going to think something was up eventually so, to hell with it 'honesty is the best policy' or something stupid like that "Week off for an important upcoming earthbound event, though with the current circumstances I doubt they'll be coming back anytime soon." does the contraband locker have a keypad or does it use an actual key? You can't remember exactly but while not your preferred beverage you swear you saw a bottle of white wine perched on one of the shelves last time you had to turn something in.

"Current.. circumstances?" he asked perplexed by your words not knowing if you were referring to his presence or something else. Maybe he really didn't know how he ended up ramming windshield first into the moon if he couldn't recall the absence of an entire planet or maybe he didn't know anything about your solar system, you were suspicious of the last option seeing as he knew what you were so that had to mean he knew something "Earth and its occupants are for a lack of better words, missing." you could theorize it'd blown up but that didn't make much of any sense as nether was there any telltale debris to indicate it shattered into a billion tiny pieces nor was the moon destroyed in the aftermath as it would've been if sudden planetary explosion was the case. You have an inkling of a feeling that you would've noticed if that happened.. or maybe not because you would be dead right now smashed beneath tons of hailing rocks. 

He began picking at his gloves again out of nervous habit "I'm um.. sorry?" trying to be mindful of your mood he gave a meaningless apology "Unless you had something to do with it, don't be." he took that as an accusation and shuffled further back into the cupboard until his back hit the wall while trying to hide behind various knocked over cleaning supplies much smaller than himself, he had no idea if he did have anything to do with it or not but was sure he didn't want you finding out if so.

You were apprehensive to the ruckus not knowing if he was coming out or making an effort to cause a racket within the kitchen but pushed with a question of your own "How do you know what I am? Human? Because I defiantly don't know what you are." he looked like a weird bipedal insectoid thingy to you so you wonder what freakish comparison he could think up about your appearance. He really didn't know if he wanted to answer that for fear of you growing suspicious but you'd be even more suspicious and wary of him if he avoided the question all together so he went for a short answer "We have err- had someone on earth." he cringed at having to make that correction "My race are known as Irkens." simply put his short answer generated a variable of long speculative thoughts ready to clamber over one another with mounting probability.

You were certainly a cut above the rest when it came to awareness and intelligence but even you were victim to the human mind's tendency to jump to unwanted conclusions every once in a while causing you to back away from a situation when you knew you wouldn't be able to understand and overcome straight off the track. An animal instinct burrowed deep within your hind brain was attempting to wriggle out and tell you to make quick work of the looming threat that apparently knew much more about you than you about it but you put a muzzle on the instinct and shoved it back down into the deep caverns of your ancestral brain. 

Not being the first time today you had to seal the cracks in your emotion barrier you took a literal step back to calm yourself down. You didn't want to be around him any longer and you were certain he felt the same way so rationalizing not much else was to be said at this point and seeing as he was more afraid than aggressive you hoped he wouldn't run a muck again if you left him be for a bit now that you had hopefully built some kind of vaguely constructed repour with him "I need to go clean up the shattered window, try not to.. break anything else? That'd be appreciated." he ducked his head in reaction as if your impassive words were daggers thrown in his direction despite you not even being in view "Help yourself to anything you think you can eat in the kitchen and if you do end up wanting to tend to your wounds feel free to stop by the lab again." hopefully with the ability to wonder freely he wouldn't be afraid to sneak into the lab after you finished cleaning up, the last thing you needed was for him to keel over because your.. intimidating presence? Got in the way.

Moving away from the door you put extra weight into your step so he knew you were leaving. The stiff posture you weren't wholly aware you were holding up until this point relived itself from your shoulders as you crossed the threshold of the cafeteria entrance once more. God you could really use some sleep and a hot meal by now. A silent yawn stretched your jaw momentarily, exhaustion was wearing you thin and your sure if you sat down even for the briefest of seconds it'd be immediate lights out. 

Swinging open the door to one of the white labeled janitorial closets in search of a broom you suddenly halted in your tracks as a dumbfounding site lay before your drooping eyes. The aforementioned sword that a surplus of staff had 'rigorously searched for' was peeking out from behind a trash bin. Now, you knew despite being well trained and educated a majority of your frequent crewmates could be a bit idiotic and screwy in the head but, Jesus Christ. You really hoped that someone saw it but just decided to leave it be because they felt bad for Jenna because the alternative answer made you want to pinch the bridge of your nose down to the cartilage in frustration at knowing you belonged to the same group of ghastly creatures that operated within this building. 

Dumbassery aside you had to wonder how differently your interaction would have went had you decided to clean up before searching for the alien only to find this weapon supposedly capable of slicing through steel according to Jenna's incoherent ramblings. Would you have entered the kitchen knowing you were armed and prepared to deal with the situation? Would one of the only two living beings left on the moon have been snuffed out? You couldn't help but entertain the dark thoughts for a period as you stood tight jawed in the small confined space full of cleaning appliances and junk. 

Taking the large oddly shaped item into your hands you inspected it. The sword didn't let off any warmth when you touched the blade so you weren't sure just yet what constituted it to be considered a heatsword but while feeling around the handle you swiped across the first of four circular sensors and immediately felt sweltering heat hit your face causing you to jerk your upper half backwards. Curious you lowered the blade down towards the bin and watched as the lip of the bin began melting away before you could even make contact. 

Swiping over the same sensor the dim glow that previously emanated from the sword faded away. You probably wouldn't end up having to put this into to use but you'd keep it close now that you had it just incase plus, it was actually pretty cool albeit in a dangerous way.

After stuffing a bag into the damaged empty bin you plopped the cooled sword and broom inside to cart them down the hall. Stranding the bin in front of the glass ridden floor you promptly walked around the chaos and went inside to pop a painkiller or two before sweeping off the immediate surface area on the inside. The cleanup wasn't much to describe on and on about aside from the newest addition to your growing collection of hurt in the form of a thin slice leading from the nail of your thumb to your inner palm on the previously unharmed hand.

Being grateful for the icepacks in the lab you laid some down in position for you to rest on before crawling into bed. You'd probably pass out for a time longer than your usual schedule, you hoped your alien occupant could handle himself alone for eight hours or more because you were defiantly not going to wake before that set time. Maybe he'll be gone by the time you wake, hijacking one of the thundertrucks and taking off to who knows where. 

To be truthful your care for anything around you started to damper, its not like any of it mattered anymore anyway, this place was somewhere meant to help push human advancements into space even if the organization was yet to be known by the public. The entirety of the human race was missing minus one singular sample and that wasn't even enough to start some sort of repopulation effort so it all felt like a monumental waste of time. You'd probably die here alone at your own hands long before starvation could set in, you expected to spend the rest of your life here even when earth was still around but you weren't alone before, you kept to yourself often but you still had a community to surround you with commotion before everything went to shit.

A very selfish part of you wished someone had stayed behind with you, someone you could talk to about all this so you wouldn't fall victim to maddening loneliness as soon as you currently estimated. Surely a doomed mental state would claim you and break you long before death gripped you. Such a sour ending to a melancholic ultimately worthless life, the cherry on top of a triple fudge fuck you sundae.


End file.
